2019 November 14

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today is a day for small, obscure and unfamiliar invertebrates, mostly from Mr E, but we’ll start with one from my Saanich apartment this morning:

 

Female Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

 

   Next, a bark louse, Family Psocoptera.  Libby Avis usually identifies most of our moths for us, but this time she excelled by identifying this obscure insect as well!

 

Bark louse Graphopsocus cruciatus (Pso.: Stenopsocidae)   Mr E

 

Bark louse Graphopsocus cruciatus (Pso.: Stenopsocidae)   Mr E

 

   Next, some extraordinary photographs of a syrphid larva  (Syrphidae = Hover Flies, also known as Flower Flies) apparently feeding on the slime of a Banana Slug.  Mr E even managed a superb movie of this larva in action.

 

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

 

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

 

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

 

 

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

 

   Last, some photographs of globose springtails.  Springtails (not insects these days, but hexapods) were formerly classified in a single Order Collembola.  Collembola is currently a Subclass of the Class Entognatha, divided into several Orders, the globose springtails being in the Order Symphypleona.   Something like that, anyway.   We believe Mr E’s springtails are in the Family Dicyrtomidae, genus Ptenothrix.  I shan’t tempt fate further by guessing at the exact species.

 

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

 

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

 

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

 

Globose springtails Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E